Deployed Oregon West Point alumni honor school's history

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Anita Stratton | Maj. Brian Carey, Maj. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, Maj. Jose Riviera and Lt. Col. Mark Parrish pose after the Society of West Point Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, Founders Day dinner March 19, at Memorial Hall. Carey and Parrish are currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team of Tigard, Ore. Brooks is the commander of the 1st Infantry Division.  

CAMP ADDER, IRAQ

03.19.2010

Story by Spc. Anita Stratton 

41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team

CAMP ADDER, Iraq — Two United States Military Academy alumni from the Oregon National Guard recently attended the celebration of their alma mater's 208th anniversary while deployed to Iraq.

Lt. Col. Mark Parrish of West Linn, Ore., and Maj. Brian Carey of Minneapolis, Minn., currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), participated in the West Point Society of Contingency Operating Base Adder Founders Day dinner March 19 at Memorial Hall.

"We are pleased to be able to get together and to hear comments from both old and new graduates," said Parrish, the brigade's operations officer. "This opportunity makes you realize how important this institution is and how it has shaped our lives."

Although the meal was served in a tent, far from the typical formal atmosphere of the usual event, the age-long traditions of West Point were still honored said Carey, who had the distinct honor of leading his fellow graduates in the Cadet's Prayer.

"This is the second Founders Day I have celebrated in the Middle East," the 1994 USMA graduate explained. "It means that much more to participate in a forward deployed area where the symbols of why we are here are so apparent."

Guest speaker for the event was Maj. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the 1st Infantry Division and a 1980 graduate of the institution.

"The Corps has continued to produce leaders for our nation when the nation needed it the most," Brooks stressed. "It has given you the opportunity of a lifetime; a chance to give back what was given to you in those four years. Don't hide from it and don't waste it," Brooks urged the more than 30 Army officers who attended the event.

The West Point Society of New York held the first recognized Founders Day in 1914. The academy was formed in 1802 under the administration of Thomas Jefferson.

The 41st, headquartered in Tigard, Ore., is currently winding down a 12-month deployment, the largest from the Oregon National Guard since World War II. The more than 3,000 troops are scheduled to return home by the middle of April.

• Date Taken: 03.19.2010
• Date Posted: 03.28.2010 14:44
• Story ID: 47348
• Location: CAMP ADDER, IQ